1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, method, and program. In particular, the present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, method, and a program which enable establishment of communication in a short amount of time.
2. Discussion of the Background
The present applicant has previously made a proposition concerning near field communication (NFC) via electromagnetic induction, using a single-frequency carrier (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3695464). In the case where the single-frequency carrier is used, if a plurality of devices communicate with another single device at the same time, a collision occurs and as a result the single device cannot receive signals from the other plurality of devices effectively. As such, in the aforementioned proposition, each device generates a radio frequency (RF) field by itself after confirming that RF fields from other devices do not exist.
In some cases where a device (for example, device A) performs near field communication with another single device (for example, device B), device A contains a plurality of independent devices (for example, device a, device b, and device c), and device a, device b, and device c are connected with one another in a wired manner. In such cases, device A is capable of generating only one RF field. That is, each of device a, device b, and device c shares a communication section that uses the RF field with the other devices, and only one of device a, device b, and device c is capable of performing the near field communication with the other device B on behalf of device A.
If each of device a, device b, and device c in device A attempts to communicate with device B at the same time, a collision occurs. Because each of device a, device b, and device c does not generate an independent RF field, however, one of device a, device b, and device c is, unlike in the aforementioned proposition, are incapable of detecting in advance whether the other devices are generating the RF field.